Put-up time: Browns must beat Baltimore or get left behind

“It’s all still in front of us,” the Browns keep saying, but any truth in that line expires today if they lose another game to Baltimore.

By Steve DoerschukCantonRep.com staff writer

There’s nothing wrong with the Browns that a three-game winning streak won’t cure.

Since a three-game losing streak hasn’t killed them, they keep acting as if it has made them stronger.

As Joe Haden puts it, seeming to actually believe it, “Everybody knows everything is still in front of us.”

You half suspect somebody is advising the players to “talk like Chud.”

After each loss, Rob Chudzinski has faithfully said “it” is still there “in front of us.”

The slogan expires today. It’s lose and get left behind.

On the other hand, if the Browns beat Baltimore (4:25 p.m. kickoff, CBS), they will be 4-5, their best record since 2007 — in a year 4-5 is in the hunt.

If not?

“If not” haunts the franchise like The Grim Reaper. The Browns almost never get a semi-big game this late in a season.

Losing and falling to 3-6 would conform to a way of life in this era of following the team that replaced the one that moved to Baltimore.

The expansion-era Browns have been 3-6 after nine games in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. It was better in 2007 (5-4) but worse in 2009 (1-8) and 2012 (2-7).

That’s one nasty decade.

It’s a new November, though, and the division has a fever:

• AFC North leader Cincinnati just lost a Thursday night game at Miami on a weird overtime safety. The Bengals also lost defensive MVP Geno Atkins to a season-ending injury.

• Defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore lost a bunch of players and three of its last four games.

• A loss at Oakland last Sunday proved the Steelers have just ... lost it.

The Browns, on the other hand, are on a comparative uptick. They had a shot at beating the only remaining unbeaten team last week before a punt-return fumble and two odd holding calls foiled them at Kansas City.

The Browns seem to think they could be onto something, especially with quarterback Jason Campbell showing well in his first start.

They’re into a three-game window of opportunity to be relevant, with the Baltimore game leading into the bye week, followed by a game at Cincinnati, then the first of two games against Pittsburgh.

If, by some miracle, the Browns could get those three, they would be 6-5, no worse than a game out of first place, and maybe better (the 6-3 Bengals play at Baltimore next Sunday, then face the Browns, then have their bye, then go to San Diego).

First comes the humongous task of ending an 11-game losing streak to Baltimore.

“It’s a real big game,” nose tackle Phil Taylor said after Friday’s practice. “November is that time when you make that push ... that push for the playoffs.

“We’ve got to go out there and play the ball we can play.”

Can they? The three games they won were started by Brian Hoyer. Campbell must prove he can restore that vibe.

Few current Browns have been on the field to see actual evidence Cleveland can beat Baltimore. Actually, it’s two Browns.

Offensive captain Joe Thomas and defensive captain D’Qwell Jackson are the only players who were on the roster the last time the team tamed the Ravens.

“We beat them twice that year,” Thomas recalls. “I don’t remember the first one at all (a 34-17 win at Cleveland on Sept. 30, 2007).”

The rematch came with the ‘07 season at a crossroads. The Browns were 5-4 after a 31-28 loss to Pittsburgh, heading into a game in Maryland.

“Josh Cribbs had a long return in the game at Pittsburgh,” Thomas said — Phil Dawson missed a long field goal that would have sent it to overtime. “The second Baltimore game was a bigger game.

“We were down by 3 and Derek Anderson took us down to field goal range (a 51-yard attempt on the last play of regulation).

“I remember Phil’s kick hitting the stanchion (behind the crossbar), and that they ruled it was no good.

“We headed for the locker room. We thought the game was over. I remember how crazy it was when they changed the ruling on the field goal, and how exciting it was to go back on the field and win in overtime.”

The final was 33-30. It was Nov. 18, 2007. It was the last time.

“It’s been too long,” Thomas said. “Obviously, beating them would be huge.”

The Browns had a chance for a big win at Baltimore on Sept. 15, taking a 6-0 lead when ex-Raven Billy Cundiff kicked a 51-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half.

Early in the third quarter, on second-and -5 near midfield, Trent Richardson lost 3 yards, a play that shades the decision to trade him two days later. The Ravens got the ball on a punt, and Joe Flacco drove them 80 yards en route to a 14-6 in.

Campbell replaced an injured Brandon Weeden late in the fourth quarter.

“My mind was moving faster than my bones at that point,” Campbell said.

The next week, Campbell went back to the bench in favor of Hoyer. Hoyer’s injury and Weeden’s struggles gave Campbell his chance at Kansas City. He exceeded expectations. Now, going on 32, he has visions of his first trip to the playoffs in a nine-year career.

“We want an opportunity to be in the hunt late in the season,” Campbell said. “We’re a young offense that’s growing. We need to try to grow really fast.

“They’re still the defending champions. They’re coming in here with a mindset of must-win as well. That kind of puts a playoff type feel to it.”

Campbell senses the Browns are primed to play one of their best games.

“We understand we’re going to get the Ravens’ best shot as well,” he said. “Our goal is to play four quarters of football. We haven’t done that just yet.

“You have to earn respect. How you earn respect is winning games.”

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